Video Premiere: Isbells, ‘Elation’

Belgian folk outfit Isbells have been waiting a long time to cross over into the States (which is maybe why they’re so…”elated”? More on that in a minute). And they totally deserve a shot at stardom across the pond — Gaëtan Vandewoude & Co. have been spreading the folk-pop gospel since 2009, playing more than 150 shows in Europe, Australia, China, and Japan, and making the rounds at festivals like the Netherlands’ EuroSonic and the U.K.’s The Great Escape. (Man, why don’t we live in Europe??) That’s not to say America hasn’t gotten a small taste of Vandewoude’s soft-spoken, woodsy world; so far Isbells have released a four-song EP Heading For The Newborn in the States, and now, they’ll release 2012’s Stoalin’ Stateside in March. But first, get lost in the video for the album’s lead single, “Elation.”

Watch Isbells’ “Elation” video after the jump.

Isbells might sound like Europe’s answer to Bon Iver with “Elation”‘s quiet-then-loud acoustic strums and falsetto vocals, but the band quickly pick up the pace in an explosion of, well, ELATED sound, performed with everything from a xylophone to a glockenspiel, vibraphonette, trumpet, mandolin, banjo, lapsteel, ukulele, and synths. The video has a friendly, homemade quality, featuring “Brady Bunch”-ish side-by-side square shots of band members Gaëtan, Chantal Acda, Christophe Vandewoude, and Gianni Marzo performing in a giant auditorium while sepia-toned clips of little girls dancing barefoot in summery dresses slide into focus, making “Elation” feel more like a sun-filled Rubik’s Cube than music video. We never successfully solved one of those before, but something tells us Isbells are more accessible, anyway.

Look out for Stoalin’ when it drops digitally via Roll Call Records on March 26.